Information and guidance on every phase of employment
The start of a new year is a great time for employers to look ahead for changes in the law that will affect their organizations. In this blog post, we will lay out some of the key issues that employers can expect to encounter in the year ahead.
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Join Troutman Sanders at our San Francisco office on Thursday, January 16th for our annual MCLE day. We will discuss employment law updates for 2020, diversity and inclusion, data privacy and an update and review of the U.S. Supreme Court. Mark Payne, Kristalyn Lee, and Christopher Gelpi will discuss employment law updates for…
Beginning January 1, 2020, California law (known as AB 51) makes it a criminal misdemeanor for employers to require arbitration as a condition of employment. The law specifically prohibits mandatory arbitration of claims under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (such as for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation) and claims for violations of the California…
Now that Black Friday has passed and Christmas lights are up, the winter holiday shopping season is in full swing. And while you may have survived or even avoided the perils of shopping for the best deals in frenzied environments, there is another type of shopping that lurks for employers: “forum shopping” by employees in…
Troutman Sanders will host an Employment and Privacy Law Seminar December 11th in our San Diego office and December 12th in our Orange County office. Both seminars will run from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. and breakfast will be provided. Mark Payne, Chris Gelpi, Kristalyn Lee, and Sadia Mirza will discuss the…
With Halloween just around the corner, many of us are preparing costumes, enjoying the fall chill in the air, and making plans for trick-or-treating. But employers should be prepared for one “trick” announced by the federal Department of Labor a few weeks ago: on September 24, 2019, the federal Department of Labor announced a new…
On September 18, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into effect the much-anticipated AB-5 Bill, which imposes heightened standards when assessing whether to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees. AB-5 will drastically affect California employers with workforces heavily reliant on independent contractors by forcing them to re-classify independent contractors as employees subject…
On September 12, 2019, the California Supreme Court ruled that an aggrieved employee bringing a representative action under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) cannot recover unpaid wages. In ZB N.A. v. Superior Court, the plaintiff, Kalethia Lawson, brought a lawsuit alleging a sole cause of action under PAGA. She based her PAGA claim…
As of July 2019, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled that obesity is considered a disability protected under the Washington Law Against Discrimination (“WLAD”). The landmark ruling makes it illegal for employers in Washington to refuse to hire qualified potential employees because the employer perceives them to be obese.
The matter concerned a plaintiff who…
On June 3, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Fort Bend County, Texas v. Davis, No. 18-525, that while employees seeking to bring claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) have a mandatory obligation to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) before filing…
